Philly bus rides provide adventure for Iowa Republicans

Iowans at the Republican National Convention are stationed in Mount Laurel, New Jersey — just about the end of the road for the bus system set up to shuttle folks around the Philadelphia metro. Iowa’s shuttle is number 13 — and sometimes the driver assigned the route doesn’t know his way around. Phyllis Kelly of Charles City, a member of the Republican National Committee, had to point a bus driver in the right direction Monday night. Kelly has been in Philadelphia for meetings for the past week, and learned her way around. Plus, she usually knows where north is.The suburb where the Iowa delegation is staying is so remote, few Philly cab drivers know where it is — and the fare is pretty steep. Connie Hoelscher of Williams took a cab downtown to have dinner with her son. The fare for the trip was 40-bucks, and in the cab back to the hotel, her driver went right by her hotel. She says he finally turned off and came back after she gave him a dirty look. Williams says she wasn’t going to let the cab driver take her, as she “wasn’t born yesterday.”In action on the convention floor yesterday, Iowa’s first-in-the-nation Caucuses have been preserved. Voting delegates approved a presidential campaign calendar for 2004 that’s identical to this year’s.